This week, Apple introduced a new iPhone app to little or no fanfare. But there’s a reason for its quiet release — it isn’t meant for everybody.
The app is called Maps Surveyor, and its sole purpose to improve one of Apple’s most popular apps: Apple Maps.
Maps Surveyor
As first spotted by MacRumors, Maps Surveyor is an app that’s really only designed for people committed to making Maps, Apple’s default navigation app, better and stay up to date.
Here’s how the Apple Store describes it: “Surveyor helps Apple improve Maps by collecting data, such as images of street signs and other roadside details, while on an assigned route.”
To collect this data and send in photos, Maps Surveyor requires users. But even though the app is free and available to anybody with an iPhone, that doesn’t mean everyone can use it. You have to be approved.
